Soldier vs. Aliens Review

Want to spend lots of money ... real world money ... upgrading weapons and armor to make sure you don't die in a free game? Yeah, neither do I. Freemium games are all about getting you to spend your cash for extra items and faster ways to beat levels, but they aren't usually this obvious. In Soldier vs. Aliens, you're going to have to do a lot of purchasing if you want to keep yourself from throwing the phone across the room in sheer frustration.

Soldier vs. Aliens is fun when you're doing well. But you start off the game with crappy weapons. Teensy tiny aliens come skittering across the room at you, chewing through the small wall you have protecting you. Sure, you can get the first ones, but within minutes, you go from hamster-sized creatures to those the size of a dachshund, which are apparently way beyond your puny, always over-heating weapons. Want to bulk up your cash in-game? Good luck. Getting cash the old fashioned way is incredibly tedious. Well, if you need a bit of help, you can use some of the Tapjoy offers to get gold. You sell out, you.

Another issue with the game is that you're going to be forced to play the same levels over and over. It's incredibly repetitious. The controls are simple. You tap to shoot and slide your finger down the screen to move your soldier. However, if you get aliens by the bottom of the screen, you're going to have a hard time getting them. I spent an insane amount of time (and lives), trying to get my soldier to move to the absolute bottom of the screen, allowing other aliens to eat through my barrier.

The graphics are pretty so-so. Nothing new here that's going to make you salivate to open the app. Here's the thing -- lots of free games are going to ask you to buy gold, or nuts, or candy, or potions. Most of them are going to at least have cool graphics, amazing game play, or at least a cute character that's going to hook you. There is nothing here you haven't seen a thousand times before in a bunch of different games. Every level is similar, and if you're not willing to pay, you're not going to have much motivation to play.